The Late George Apley
by John Marquand
Award: Pulitzer 1938
Dates Read: February 2, 2011 & May 20, 2019
The Late George Apley is written as a memoir by a lifelong friend of George. In the portrait of a life that follows, the author grapples with the questions, "What is truth in a life?" For in the end, a man can only be judged by his actions rather than those values he professes to revere.
George Apley comes from a firmly established Boston family that prides itself on its heritage. They are a part of society that is insular and so very difficult to break into, yet wholly necessary for any kind of prominent achievement. The expectations of this privileged class dictates how George's life is ordered from the very start. And in large part, George complies to all the demands made of him, from sailing and attending Harvard, to joining the right clubs and marrying the right kind of woman.
George's parents carefully guard the society he keeps, admonishing him about associating with Harry Alger, the man who comes to pen this memoir. His parents balk because they do not believe him to be a "quality person" (read: from money) and only enthusiastically welcome him after they realize his father is the owner of a prominent yarn company. As distasteful and snobbish as this is, George eventually comes to use the same metric in passing judgement on his own children's acquaintances.
As George becomes a father to John and Eleanor, he deeply embraces the legacies that were handed him that he concludes "...the more I see of life the more sure I am that every individual should learn to conform to type." How incredibly restrictive and how incredibly dull! George holds to this idea so firmly that he threatens to cut off his cousin if he follows through on his plan to leave his wife for another woman. While he succeeds in holding up appearances, he condemns those concerned to live in misery the remainder of their lives.
In his later years, George becomes obsessed with maintaining appearances, going so far as to implore his son to state that the marriage between Uncle William and his nurse, Miss Prentiss, had long been known so that others weren't reminded of "...the vagaries of other old gentlemen." Yet for all his concerted effort, George's own reputation was tarnished when he was caught in a hotel room with a woman of ill repute. Although this was smoothed over in time, this experience drove home the fact that a reputation is so often out of our own hands.
The Late George Apley was a salve to my soul as the current political climate seems to be crumbling before my very eyes. This novel was such a reprieve and I immersed myself completely in this simpler time where life seemed so much easier, at least for those of means. Then again, I would hate to be forced to live purely in the pursuit of keeping up appearances.
Looking Forward: Melville Goodwin USA
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